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| boom roasted |
Burning: Okay, so there is "Oh my God, I'm working hard and my muscles are burning" and then there is "No, but really, get a bucket of water, cause I'm on fire". If you have ever had a good workout, you should be familiar with the first feeling. It's the "burning" feeling associated with muscular fatigue. I'm going to talk about the second type of pain here. Most nerve pain presents as a burning sensation, and it feels like actual burning, not muscle fatigue. Like 'you grabbed a hot pan' burning. It may also be accompanied by tingling, and some numbness or cramping in the muscles the nerve runs through. Unless you are experiencing extreme symptoms, like total muscle failure, this isn't an emergency. But there are a ton of causes for nerve symptoms, and you'll need to figure out the cause before you can figure out the treatment (Captain Obvious, right?).
If you are experiencing the burning for the first time and you do not have an explanation for the symptoms, my advice would be to stop what you're currently doing and do some light stretching in the area. You should rest until all of the nerve symptoms go away. Just like you can fatigue muscles, you can also fatigue nerves when you work out, so if this is your first experience with nerve pain and there is no real explanation it may just be time to rest. Now, if you do have an explanation for the symptoms (a car crash, your best friend tackled you and hit you in that area) or if the nerve symptoms keep coming back, I would stop the activity that causes the symptoms until a doctor is able to evaluate the injury.
Pulling/ Ripping: This type of pain is most commonly associated with a pulled muscle. A pulled muscle is called a "strain", or a strained muscle, and is graded in severity on a scale of 1-3. A grade 1 is stretching of the muscle, a grade 2 is partial tearing of the muscle fibers (which is a big category - it can be one muscle fiber torn all the way up, to all of the fibers in the muscle torn except one, and anywhere in between), and a grade 3 is complete rupture of the muscle. So if you are working out and experience ripping or pulling pain, and then you look at the muscle and it looks like your muscle has been replaced by a swollen ball and there's a caved in area right next to it, first try not to throw up because you probably just ruptured the muscle. Then go to the emergency room. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. Ruptured muscles are a real emergency - not because you might die, but because if they aren't treated right away the muscle can become permanently shorted and may never get back to its original form or function. This is very bad.
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| These are both pictures of what a ruptured biceps looks like |
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| looks cool but hurts like a witch |
It can also be confusing because a mild strain (grade one) and an extremely sore muscle can also feel the same. And I mean EXTREMELY sore muscle. So how do you tell the difference? Man, you are asking some great questions. First of all, when you were working out, did you feel any sharp pain during the workout? If yes, you probably strained the muscle. If no, you may simply be sore (but there's still a possibility you have a strained muscle). Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is the soreness you feel the day after a workout, and it is usually the worst on the second day after the workout. Luckily, it is easy to figure out if you have DOMS or an injury. If you feel that extreme soreness, and are concerned it may be more than soreness, get up and walk around. If you have DOMS, the soreness should start to subside after a few minutes of movement and light stretching (DOMS means you are building muscle, so you should rest that muscle group until the soreness goes away. But if it's just DOMS, it means you don't have an injury). If you have a mild strain, the pain will usually get worse with light stretching. Remember to give it about 10 minutes though, 'cause if you're extremely sore the activity will hurt before it gets better, but the strained muscle will just keep getting worse. Also, if you are sore for more than a week after the workout, then it is likely that you strained a muscle. If you have a strained muscle and none of the other signs, you should see your doctor (but let's face it, you probably won't). Here's my advice - ice and rest for at least three days. And you really should go see your doctor. After three days, you can switch to heat from the ice, and start light stretching (sometimes the light stretching will make the pain worse again, temporarily. If that happens, ease off and ice again). When your strained muscle can tolerate the stretching, you can add in light activity and then gradually work up to full activity (don't try to push too hard too fast, because every set back puts you back to day one). If you want to speed up returning to your regular workout, I recommend seeing a therapist because they will be able to evaluate your specific injury and maximize your rehab better than the general guidelines I mentioned. Either way, though, a grade one strain means you'll be fine in the long run.
Stabbing/ Shooting: This is pain, very sharp pain, that may start in one area (as stabbing pain, usually) and move to another (shooting). It will feel sharp, and you will be able to clearly track the path of the pain. It can be associated with pulled muscles or an inflamed nerve, or really just about any injury. Woooohoo! Super specific, this is helpful, I know, you're welcome. So what do you do about it? Well, if the pain is in your abdominal or chest region, or your head, go to the doctor RIGHT NOW. If you have a clearly broken bone (like you can see the break through your skin) go to the doctor RIGHT NOW! If the pain feels like it's in a muscle group, you should rest that area, put some ice on it, and re-read the section above where I talked about pulling a muscle. But muscles aren't the only area you might feel stabbing or shooting pain. You may also feel it in your connective tissue, in bones, and in joints. My advice is this: if the pain comes from an impact (being tackled) go to the emergency room - you may have a broken bone, but it may not be displaced. I also advise going to the emergency room if the pain comes on very suddenly - you may have torn a ligament. If the pain comes on gradually (I mean over the course of weeks or months, not hours. If it comes on in a few hours, it's still an emergency) and escalates into sharp, stabbing, or shooting pain, it is not an emergency. But in this case, you have a very real injury so you will need to be seen by a professional in order to figure out what the injury is, and how to best address it. Sorry, stabbing or shooting pain is never a good sign, just go see your doctor.
Referred: Referred pain is pain that you feel in one area due to an illness or injury in another area. It usually feels like a dull throb or ache, and it can be very general pain and hard to figure out where it originates from (there is a possibility it may also be sharp pain). The most common example of this is the referred pain people who are experiencing a heart attack feel in their left arm/shoulder. If you are having referred pain in your left arm or shoulder and think you may be having a heart attack, stop reading this and call 9-1-1 (seriously what are you doing). There are actually a ton of organs that, when injured or sick, will cause referred pain, but I'm not going to get into that.
It is also possible to have referred pain due to an orthopedic issue. Usually, if the pain is orthopedic in nature, it is caused by some injury or inflammation of the myofacia (connective tissue that encases pretty much every muscle and your bones). If the pain is orthopedic in nature, you will (usually) also be able to feel "tender" and "trigger" points. A tender point is basically a knot in the muscle - you push on it, and it hurts. A trigger point will cause referred pain. For example, a trigger point in the Trapezius (shoulder muscle) often causes referred pain in the neck, arm or back. The problem, though, comes when you can't find the trigger point - because sometimes trigger points are in completely different areas of the body (anatomy is weird). So my advice is: if you have unexplained pain in an area, make an appointment right meow to get it checked out (especially if you are feeling other symptoms, like light-headedness or nausea), 'cause it could be an emergency (better your doctor tell you nothing is wrong than you ignore the pain and end up in the emergency room). If you have a trigger point that you have been able to locate, however, this is not an emergency. Usually, stretching and massage combined with heat help the trigger points. If you try those and don't see any relief in the pain, try to make an appointment with a therapist, because you may be focusing on the trigger point and not the cause of the trigger point. Anatomy is weird, and sometimes the trigger point is just another symptom, of say, something like postural misalignment ('cause referred pain isn't enough right?).
Clicking or popping: For the most part, clicks and pops are nothing to worry about - usually they are just tendons or ligaments moving around, or gas escaping out of your joint capsule (and hopefully not escaping other places.... fart joke). If you have clicking or popping with no pain, I wouldn't be concerned, it's probably the norm for you when you do that specific exercise. However, when they are accompanied by sharp or shooting pain (on a regular basis), then you have a problem. If the pain happened once, I wouldn't worry you probably just moved in a weird way for one repetition. Usually, clicking will occur in a joint, and when accompanied by pain on a regular basis can indicate problems with cartilage or fiborus tissue in the joint - the most common example being a meniscal tear in the knee. This isn't an emergency, but it's also not normal, so get it checked out. If you ignore the pain, it may progress to the point where the joint also locks into place (still not an emergency). That usually means the tear is large enough that it is moving into the joint space, and it can cause complications (like extra wear and tear, or early arthritis). Most tears in connective tissue won't heal on their own like muscles will, so you'll need to see your doctor to figure out what you need. Sometimes rehab is enough to manage the pain, sometimes surgery is required.
Aching: This is a very tricky category. The good new is that achiness is rarely an emergency, and often times not even something to be worried about. It usually occurs in joint spaces like your knees or spine or shoulders... or any joint in your body. We already talked about referred pain, which can feel achy, and clicking and popping in a joint, so let's rule those categories out first, then move on to just general achy pain. So, when you work out you fatigue your muscles right? That's the whole goal, but when muscles are fatigued, they have a harder time supporting your body, so the impact of daily life normally absorbed by your muscles (like carrying groceries up three flights of stairs), has to be absorbed by something else - i.e. your joints and ligaments. If you have done a workout on a specific body part, and later that day or the next day you have achiness in associated joints, its probably a result of muscular fatigue (this could be caused by lifting weights or by cardio). I usually don't worry about achiness unless it is accompanied by other symptoms. Now, if you experience achiness (with no other symptoms) during your workout, that is a sign your body needs to rest. It doesn't mean you injured yourself, it just means you should stop for the day. My rule of thumb is this: achiness with other symptoms may be an injury. Achiness by itself - rest until it goes away, then go back to working out. Now, for some clarification, if you are working out and you feel achy and you rest, and then it goes away and then you do the exact same workout and feel achy (but again there are no other symptoms), it may be a sign that you are working out at a level your body is not adapted to yet. My advice would be to scale back the workout and then gradually work up to that level. Achiness can be the first sign of an overuse injury, which is usually caused by working out at a level your body is not adapted to. Every body is different and will have strengths and weaknesses, so you may be able to adapt to running 5 miles very quickly but weight training may take longer for your body to adapt to (or visa versa). Just be patient and listen to your body. Oh, and bonus lesson: ice is awesome for achiness.
Again, please keep in mind, every person is an individual and I am generalizing in this post based on how symptoms present for the average person. Hopefully, you guys have found this post informative. If there is an area you would like clarification on, or you have questions, feel free to post in the comments!
**NOTE: This post is meant to be educational, not as a substitution for an actual diagnosis. If you are experiencing pain, you should see your doctor so that you can get a specific diagnosis on your condition. I mean, come on, I can't diagnose your pain over the Internet - what am I, Web MD? (but really, don't use Web MD either ... seriously it doesn't work)**
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